Saratoga Springs City Charter discussed at Skidmore forum

Former Saratoga Springs mayor Ken Klotz speaks as Saratoga Citizen's Pat Kane takes notes behind a computer and old typewriter he brought to signify change during Thursday's forum on changing the city's charter at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. Panelists Peter Martin and Jane Weihe sit between the two as moderator Robert Turner listens at right. Turner is an Associate Professor in the Government and Enviromental Studies departments at Skidmore. Ed Burke 10/4/12

Skidmore students and members of the public listen to Thursday's charter change debate at the Tang Museum. Ed Burke 10/4/12

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- While many Skidmore College students aren't from Saratoga Springs, many of them took an interest in the Spa City's politics Thursday night at a forum hosted at the Tang Museum on campus.

Opposing sides talked about the pros and cons of changing the city's charter -- a question that will be put to locally registered voters in November.

While there were some allusions to extra credit offered by Robert Turner, the political science professor moderating the event, several students took an active interest in the debate between Saratoga Citizen representatives, who are in favor of charter change, and members of SUCCESS, who oppose it.

"I thought it shed a lot of good light on how the local government here works," said Andrew Lowy, a Skidmore sophomore with a dual major in government and international affairs.

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Lowy plans on voting in the November referendum but hasn't made up his mind about whether he supports charter change.

"I do see the benefit of having a centralized

decision-making position," he said.

About half of the crowd were students while the rest were citizens with questions about the change.

Voters will decide whether to change the city's commission form of government, which consists of five commissioners who, in addition to their roles on the City Council, also head the city's five departments.

The proposal, championed by Saratoga Citizen, would institute a council-manager form of government. That would strip the commissioners of their departments and put in place a city manager who would handle the day-to-day operation of the city.

If approved, the change would take effect in 2014.

Patrick Kane and Peter Martin, two of Saratoga Citizen's organizers, spoke on its behalf, and Jane Weihe and former mayor Ken Klotz defended the city's current form of government.

During the hour-and-a-half-long talk, Klotz pointed to the city's quality of life and prosperity.

"I'm not going to argue we are a top-notch city because of the commission form of government," he said, "but that is part of it."

Kane used an analogy he has before, comparing the city's current form to a typewriter.

"This still works. I can still write my mother a letter on this," he said, putting his hand on the typewriter he brought to illustrate his point. "But is it probably a little easier and more efficient on the computer? Yes."

Questions from the audience also came from members of each side of the debate. One woman wearing a "Vote No" sticker on her lapel questioned the savings Saratoga Citizen supporters say the city will see with the shift in government.

"I can't promise you anything," Kane replied. "I think you are going to start seeing savings in the first year."

He argued a professional manager will be able to "fill the cracks" in the city's government operations.

Weihe argued that the vote "isn't about whether you like the city manager form of government or you like the commission form. You are being asked whether you like a specific document."

That document -- the Saratoga Citizen proposal -- has flaws, she said, and "is not a document I want to be governed by."